Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/122

106 He saw in dreams a drawing-room, Where thirteen wretches sat in gloom, Waiting—he thought he knew for whom:

He saw them drooping here and there, Each feebly huddled on a chair, In attitudes of blank despair:

Oysters were not more mute than they, For all their brains were pumped away, And they had nothing more to say—

Save one, who groaned "Three hours are gone Who shrieked "We'll wait no longer, John! Tell them to set the dinner on!"

The vision passed: the ghosts were fled: He saw once more that woman dread: He heard once more the words she said.

He left her, and he turned aside: He sat and watched the coming tide Across the shores so newly dried.